Dog got your tongue? First person nature writing series.
… Got Your Tongue? Is a series of pieces that challenge me to think more than “cute” about a creature, and to research about them instead. Writing in the first person is meant to improve the empathy we feel when reading, so I’ve decided to just act as if I am a goose and hope it resonates with you better that way too. I feel strongly about the damage we are inflicting on our ecosystems and this is my tiny contribution to trying to work out how we can do better.
Salt & pepper Miniature Schnauzer. This is Dexter, one of my parent's Schnauzers, he is naughty and was my muse for this piece.
I can smell in technicolour. Today’s scent is Magnolia with notes of… Bluebell… Daffodil… Crocus… Allium. There’s an undertone of toxic blue-green algae. I’m glad they’ve let us back in, but my nose isn’t fooled, that stuff is still here. Not that I’d ever drink the water anyway.
I don’t need to either, the Tuff Pupper water bottle is always within reach. Using it means I have to suffer Kelly gloating about how “revolutionary” it is to anyone silly enough to comment on it. I can’t fathom her enthusiasm, a container with a receptacle to make drinking easy while travelling… It’s just a flask woman!
She’s off again, “Wonderful News, such a perfect name for a rose” I don’t know how Georgia tolerates it, she says this every time we meander through here. That rose has had that name since before they were even together, she’s said the same thing to every Tom, Dick and Sally that comes here with her.
Come on, just sniff the damn thing and let’s be on our way. She can’t though. Always got to linger. And, there it is… Phone’s out. Click click click. I can’t fathom this either; a picture won’t capture meadow honey musk. Why doesn’t she just rub herself against it? That’s the only way to really know the true nature of something.
Last summer, I had to stand on ceremony waiting for that park ranger to finish expounding the joys of being in the presence of a blooming “Emmenopterys Henryi”. It was obvious nobody was going to remember how to pronounce that, but still she droned on. “It’s thought to be the result of a cold winter followed by heatwave conditions. Botanist Ernest Wilson introduced the species to Europe in 1907, with the first known flowering in Italy in 1971. But, this one here, has never been recorded to have produced flowers until now. It has taken 101 years and we might not see it happen again in our lifetimes.”
No time like the present then, I had thought to myself, and trotted into the lowest hanging branches to get a whiff. The row I got for that. “Why are you so embarrassing?” she’d hissed. But it was her that missed a trick, because I was transported to a Chinese forest in spring while she stood perplexed about pronunciation and frustrated by etiquette right here in Cardiff. Hey ho, at least one of us didn’t waste the opportunity.
Writing ‘Dog Got Your Tongue?’ Made me realise:
1. I had missed the Emmenopterys Henryi flowering because I had no idea it existed. I also don't know anyone who saw it flower, despite nearly everyone I know being an outsider type. My takeaway from this? We should make more effort to go on guided walks in our homelands.
2. I should pay closer attention to algae because certain types are poisonous to dogs. Cyanobacteria, the scientific term for the ‘toxic blue-green algae’ I mentioned, is a type of blooming algae. The government reports that the toxins produced by it can kill wild animals, livestock and pets and can cause humans to suffer in the form of rashes after skin contact.
Click here for examples of Britain's wildflowers you might want to keep your eyes peeled for.
Click here for more info on the fascinating Emmenopterys Henryi, and its Chinese origins.
